Wisconsin is preparing for a massive expansion of data centers. Billions of dollars are flowing into new facilities, which could sharply increase the state’s electricity demand. At the same time, families across Wisconsin are struggling to afford something much more basic: child care.
Child care costs in Wisconsin have climbed beyond what many families can afford. In 2026, full-time infant care at a center costs an average of $17,400 a year — equal to 22% of Wisconsin’s median household income and more than a year of in-state tuition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The problem extends beyond cost. Wisconsin’s child care workforce declined by more than 26% between 2010 and 2022. Child care workers in 2022 earned a median annual wage of $26,333, ranking 13th lowest among 546 occupations, according to a 2023 Forward Analytics report.
This is not just a problem for parents. It’s a drag on the economy. When families cannot find reliable care, parents may reduce their hours, turn down jobs or leave the workforce. When providers cannot afford to retain workers, classrooms close and families lose options.
Wisconsin has already seen what targeted investment can accomplish. Child Care Counts supported 5,762 programs, 75,740 educators and more than 430,000 children. It also helped the early childhood workforce grow by roughly 17%, according to the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association’s Center for Policy, Research, and Engagement.
But that funding was temporary, and about one-quarter of providers could close or significantly reduce services without continued support.
We cannot keep treating child care as a temporary crisis. Like roads, power lines and broadband, child care is infrastructure that allows the economy to function.
That is why Wisconsin needs a Wisconsin Public Child Care Act to create a permanent child care trust fund that would make care more affordable and stabilize providers while supporting private, nonprofit, family-based, tribal and in-home programs. Regional child care councils would help tailor investments to local needs.
A permanent program also needs a permanent funding source. Wisconsin’s growing data center industry provides an opportunity.
A 2026 UW-Madison Extension analysis identified more than 4,500 megawatts of potential electricity demand from major current and planned data center projects across the state. The Public Service Commission projects Wisconsin’s peak electricity demand could rise from 14.2 gigawatts in 2026 to approximately 20 gigawatts by 2032, a roughly 40% increase.
Wisconsin already offers significant tax incentives to attract data centers. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates the state’s data center sales and use tax exemption could result in more than $2 billion in forgone tax revenue from data centers that come to the state.
If Wisconsin is willing to invest billions to attract these projects, it should also ask them to invest in the workforce they rely on.
Rather than treating data centers and child care as competing priorities, Wisconsin should connect them. The largest facilities could pay a modest assessment based on electricity capacity. At an illustrative $50,000 per megawatt, 2,000 megawatts of qualifying capacity could generate approximately $100 million annually for child care. That revenue would increase as more data centers go online.
This is not an anti-business proposal. Data centers depend on Wisconsin’s roads, energy systems, communities and workforce. That workforce depends on child care.
Wisconsin should welcome economic development while ensuring the public shares its benefits. A small contribution from the state’s largest data centers could help families afford care, stabilize providers, improve child care worker compensation and expand access in communities facing shortages.
Wisconsin should not have to choose between technological investment and working families. We can build the data centers of the future while investing in the child care system that allows Wisconsin’s economy to function.
Child care is essential infrastructure. Wisconsin should fund it accordingly.
Connie Acuahuitl is a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student. She recently completed a fellowship with the Roosevelt Institute, which “champions new ideas and new leaders to make our economy and democracy work for the many, not the few.” She also interned at Caring Across Generations, whose mission is to “change our culture and policies in America to value and support caregiving.”
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